Eight sites in the Penrith LGA are before the state government as possible sites for development, as Planning Minister Brad Hazzard looks at the potential of bypassing local councils in the rezoning process to help Sydney reach its demand of 25,000 new homes per year.

EIGHT sites in the Penrith local government area
could be rezoned and developed into more than 30,000 homes, according to a report released by Planning Minister Brad Hazzard.

Forty-three sites across NSW were nominated by developers and landowners as suitable for housing development under the Minister’s Housing Land Review, a program motivated by figures that show Sydney is building only 17,000 of the 25,000 new houses needed every year.

The nominated sites total 12,000ha of property, or the equivalent of 100,000 homes, the majority of which are greenfield sites on Sydney’s fringe.

Mr Hazzard said his office was prepared to bypass local government when it came to deciding which land would be rezoned and hoped to have construction on some sites underway within three years.

Penrith Council has described the government’s development plans as “ill-conceived and illogical”.
Mayor Greg Davies said the views and needs of local communities would be bypassed, and the developments would not be supported by the necessary infrastructure.

“This is planning madness,” Mr Davies said. “The Orchard Hills component alone looks at 25,000 new sites, which would leave a burden of approximately $700 million to be inflicted on local ratepayers.” He said existing strategies showed Penrith had sufficient land capacity to cater for the next 25 years of growth, without the developer-nominated sites.

Opposition Leader John Robertson said the plan would put the needs of developers above those of local communities.
“This is a staggering betrayal from (Premier) Barry O’Farrell, who campaigned on giving planning powers back to local communities,” Mr Robertson said.

“Instead of locating new housing developments around public transport, jobs and infrastructure, the O’Farrell government is basing its planning decisions around the profit margins of developers.”

Mr O’Farrell’s office has established a committee to evaluate each of the 43 development proposals.